Father And Son Hunters Kill Mother Bear And Her Two ‘Shrieking’ Newborn Cubs In Their Den

A father and his teenage son have been accused of killing a female black bear and her two cubs in her den in southern Alaska, the Anchorage Daily News reports.

Andrew Renner, 41, and his 18-year-old son Owen Renner have been charged with unlawfully taking a female bear with cubs, killing two bear cubs and illegally possessing and transporting three illegally hunted bears in the April incident.

Under Alaska law, it’s illegal to kill black bear cubs or sows with cubs in most parts of the state, including Esther Island in Prince William Sound, where the shooting took place.

Alaska Wildlife Troopers, which announced the charges on Monday, said the killings were captured on video by a motion-activated camera set up inside the den to monitor the bears. The sow was among 20 black bears being studied by the US Forest Service and the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.

According to court papers, video footage captured Owen Renner shooting the mother black bear, which resulted in the “cubs begin shrieking in the den after the initial shots are fired.” Andrew Renner then “takes aim through his rifle scope only feet away and fires several more shots, killing the newborn bear cubs.”

The two also removed the mother bear’s tracking collar. “They’ll never be able to link it to us,” the teen said, according to authorities.